Take-Home Toxins: Mesothelioma and the Danger of Secondary Asbestos Exposure

What is Secondary Asbestos Exposure?

Many people assume that only industrial workers—those in shipyards, refineries, or construction—are at risk for mesothelioma. However, asbestos fibers are microscopic and “sticky.” Workers often unknowingly brought these fibers home on their hair, skin, and work clothes. Family members, particularly those who handled the laundry or hugged their loved ones upon their return from work, inhaled these fibers, leading to a “secondary” or “take-home” exposure that can manifest as cancer decades later.

Mesothelioma is often called a ‘worker’s disease,’ but the reality is much more tragic. For decades, industrial giants allowed their employees to return home covered in toxic asbestos dust, unknowingly poisoning their families. Today, we are seeing a rise in ‘secondary exposure’ cases where spouses and children are diagnosed with mesothelioma despite never stepping foot on a job site. At the Berniard Law Firm, we believe these families deserve justice just as much as the workers themselves.

TSCA may be supplemented soon with Senator Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act. Doing so would no doubt be a great victory for environmentalists as it would replace TSCA with something which might actually work. The Safe Chemicals Act is taking aim at a number of problems that TSCA has been unable to address, foremost above them, asbestos. The question, however, of what is and is not reasonably “safe” remains.

Historically asbestos was considered to be useful material in its day. Its strength makes it a great cement additive; what’s more, its resistance to heat makes it excellent for brake pads, building insulation, and flame retardant.

Unfortunately, asbestos is obviously very hazardous. As scientists and doctors have come to profess, asbestos causes the dangerous illness mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that anyone who watches television knows about. What’s more, mesothelioma has led to enough pain and suffering that awareness is essential.

The scary thing about mesothelioma, and asbestos, is that it is amounts to a death sentence. Forty percent of people who contract this ailment die within a year. Ninety percent of people who contract this sickness within four years. Besides its high fatality rate, the popular fear of asbestos gains strength from the chemical’s insidiousness. Up to fifty years could pass between coming in contact with asbestos and developing mesothelioma.

Despite the ubiquity of mesothelioma class action lawsuit ads, the actual disease is fairly rare and the average American has a very low risk of contracting it. In most industrialized Western nations – that is, places where asbestos was, or is, manufactured and used – between seven and forty people per million contract mesothelioma each year. Mesothelioma is practically nonexistent in countries without asbestos.

If you suspect secondary exposure, it is vital to recognize the early symptoms of mesothelioma. Understand why asbestos cases involve diverse defendant groups when tracing ‘take-home’ fibers.

The Legal Challenge: Proving the Source of Exposure

In a secondary exposure case, the legal burden is unique. You must not only prove the victim has mesothelioma, but you must also trace the asbestos fibers back to a specific job site where a family member worked. In Louisiana, this requires a deep-dive into old work records, union logs, and co-worker testimony to prove that a specific company’s product was the “substantial factor” in the family member’s illness.

To really assess the danger of asbestos, one has to distinguish risk from hazard. “Risk” is the chance that something will go wrong. “Hazard” is a measure of the severity what happens if something does go wrong. The hazard for asbestos is very high. The hazard is mesothelioma and death within a few years. The risk is very low. Between seven and forty in one million is almost as low as the proverbial “one in a million.”

Tobacco, by comparison, is far more risky than asbestos. Male smokers have about a seventeen percent lifetime risk of developing lung cancer. For women, the risk is about twelve percent. Tobacco is roughly as hazardous as asbestos. Lung cancer’s overall five year survival rate is about fourteen percent.

Secondary Exposure and the Duty to Warn

Courts in Louisiana and across the country have increasingly recognized that companies had a “duty to warn” not just their employees, but also the families of those employees. If a company knew—or should have known—that asbestos dust was leaving their facility on workers’ clothing, they can be held liable for the resulting secondary illnesses. This makes “take-home” cases a powerful tool for seeking justice for spouses and children of industrial workers.

It is difficult to think of a hard and fast rule for distinguishing between safe and unsafe chemicals, but that is precisely what the EPA will likely be doing after the passage of the Safe Chemicals Act. American manufacturing could be on the brink of a very big change. It could be a victory for the environmental movement, but a victory with very unknown consequences and a huge development in law.

A mesothelioma diagnosis is devastating, but you don’t have to face it alone. Whether your exposure was primary or secondary, the law provides a pathway to hold negligent corporations accountable for the air you were forced to breathe. Contact the Berniard Law Firm today for a free, confidential review of your family’s history and let us help you secure the settlement your family needs.